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Clark
County Amateur Radio Club
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Repeater
Updates |
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Repeater Update –
November 2010 The
50MHz (6M), 144MHz (2M), 220MHz, 440MHZ, and 1.2GHz voice repeaters and
associated equipment located on Livingston Mountain and Yacolt Mountain are
owned and operated by the Clark County Amateur Radio Club (CCARC). These repeaters are maintained and upgraded
by CCARC through the generous donations by friends and members. The PACKET
system radios and TNC located on Livingston Mountain are owned and operated
by the Clark County ARES/RACES group (CCARES/RACES). This equipment is maintained by the CCARES/RACES
group and is open for general amateur use when not being used for Emcomm
operations. At
the 4 August CCARC Board of Directors meeting, the board approved the
replacement of our Motorola Micor 443.925 MHz UHF repeater and duplexer. The older Motorola equipment has served us
well, but the newer equipment will only occupy a small fraction of the space
we occupy in the CRESA facility on Mt Livingston. Space is quite limited in the facility and
to ensure the continued hosting of our repeaters at the CRESA site, we took
the initiative to be a conscientious resident in the facility and conserve
space as much as possible. Compared to
the 8 inch combined relay rack height of the new repeater and duplexer, the
Micor free-standing cabinet was about 3 ft. high and consumed significantly
more electrical power. The
new UHF repeater is a Kenwood TK-850 and is similar to our TK-750 VHF
repeater on 147.24 MHz. Both Kenwood repeaters each only occupy 3.5
inches of rack space each (plus the duplexers) and are much more
efficient. The new UHF repeater will
use the same antenna as the old Micor repeater. This addition to our repeater family brings
us to more efficient state of the art equipment. The
147.24 and 224.36 repeaters have been working flawlessly since their
installation in 2009 and I expect no less from our new UHF repeater. As
always, your support and donations to our CCARC repeater fund are truly
appreciated. Thank
You! Wayne
Schuler, AI9Q, CCARC Repeater Manager. ai9q@arrl.net
Repeater Update – 2009 Through your
generous donations, we've been able to purchase two new repeaters and make
substantial upgrades to our system recently. Our most
recent purchase was a new Kenwood 750 VHF repeater for our flagship station
on 147.24 MHz. The old Motorola Micor
units we purchased used 15 years ago were 30 years old and have provided good
service until lately when they started acting up. It was going to cost more in time and money
than it was worth to repair and we would still have old equipment. Thus, the club Board of Directors approved
the purchase of the new Kenwood which was put on the air within 2-3 weeks
before the winter weather set in on the mountain. In early 2008
a new High-Pro R1 1.25 meter repeater was purchased to replace the temporary
one made from used mobile transceivers. The mobile units are no longer
available and they were hard to maintain.
The new 224.36 repeater is now on the air and is doing a great
job. We also
purchased a new Arcom RC-210 repeater controller which will manage the
147.24, 224.360 and 443.925 repeaters on Mt. Livingston. The repeaters are
controlled via a reverse patch on a phone line for maximum security.
Since installing the new system, we have had very few problems and we are
able to control all three repeaters remotely. A new Triband
antenna has been installed at the Mt. Livingston site. This
antenna is triplexed for the 224.36 repeater, the 144.99 packet node and for
future 70 cm band linking. The 147.24
and 443.925 repeaters have their own dedicated antennas on the tower at
approximately 1920 ft above sea level. The 23-cm
repeater frequency has been changed to 1292.50 and will return to the air as
soon as we can reinstall the antenna. A note to
remember when accessing the 6 meter repeater. The offset is -1.700
MHz. Most radios default at 1.000 offset and must be changed to the
standard used in the northwest. See your technical manual for
directions on how to do this. Also, most HT radios don't work well on 6
meters due to the antenna and power. Best results are obtained with a
base or mobile radio. Our clubs
repeater coverage includes all VHF and UHF bands from 6-meters through
23-cm. We’ve been able to add these repeaters and upgrade our coverage
with the help our technicians and our members. Fixed expenses
for these repeaters include rent and a telephone control circuits which
amounts to approximately $50/month. Ongoing maintenance for all the
repeaters comes from the repeater fund as well. Fortunately, we have
good commercial grade repeaters which don’t require much maintenance.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank all those who have provided donations and
their technical assistance for our repeater projects. I’d especially like to thank the following
for providing their technical expertise and assistance: John Stein, AB7F; Loren Flindt, KB7APU; Jim
Coville, W7RY; Wes Allen, K7WWG; Larry Johnson, K7LJ. Thank you all so much for being on call
when we need you.
As you
know, we have a repeater fund which pays for ongoing expenses related to the
repeaters. This fund pays for the site rent and utilities. Money left over
pays for maintenance and upgrades. The repeaters have been pretty much
self-supporting without asking the club to dip into the general fund
reserves. All this is made possible by your generous donations to the
repeater fund. For that we thank you
again. If you haven’t joined ‘friends of the repeater’, I’d like to
invite you to do so today. Any amount is sincerely appreciated and
we’ll add your name to our donor’s list in the annual awards banquet program
booklet in February. All donations will be spent strictly on our
repeater projects. Of course all donations are tax deductible to the
extent allowed by IRS law. CCARC is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Thank you
very much for your support. Wayne Schuler, AI9Q, CCARC
Repeater Manager. ai9q@arrl.net
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CCARC,
providing Community Service |
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Page Updated 12/03/2012 gjt |
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